SaabiraChaudhuri

The purchase continues a string of relatively small acquisitions by the San Jose, Calif., company, which is trying to evolve into a less hardware-intensive information-technology provider as growth from its traditional network equipment business slows.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay $76 a share in cash for each Sourcefire share, a 29% premium to Monday's close. The purchase price also includes retention-based incentives.

"Sourcefire aligns well with Cisco's future vision for security and supports the key pillars of our security strategy," said Hilton Romanski, vice president of corporate development at Cisco. "Through our shared view of the critical role the network must play in cybersecurity and threat defense, we have a unique opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive approach to security in the market."

The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year. Cisco expects the deal to slightly hurt adjusted earnings in fiscal 2014.

Sourcefire was founded in 2001 and went public in 2007. For 2012, Sourcefire reported revenue of $223.1 million, an increase of 35% from the year earlier.

The move comes roughly a month after Cisco agreed to buy privately held database integrator Composite Software Inc. for $180 million, a bid to expand its growing collection of software and services.

Shares of SourceFire, which were halted premarket, closed Monday at $59.08, while those of Cisco were up by five cents to $25.77.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.